[vcf-midatlantic] USB Floppies that are flexible? Cleaning a 3.5" drive?

[Dave McGuire]

   I have a LaCie USB 3.5" drive (model "MYFLOPPY3") that handles 720KB 
disks just fine, I use it all the time for those.

   These will never be able to do arbitrary non-PeeCee disk formats, though.

               -Dave

On 12/8/20 1:57 PM, Jason Perkins via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
> I have a ~2003 vintage NEC usb floppy drive that can read and write, but
> not format PC 720k disks. Inside it has a normal laptop disk mechanism,
> with an external USB converter board.
> 
> I can look up the model if anyone is interested.
> 
> On Tue, Dec 8, 2020 at 8:59 AM Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic <
> vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
> 
>> IMHO there is no modern solid USB substitute for the 720K disk drive, for
>> both software and hardware reasons.  I'd set up a "tweener" PC for this
>> kind of work that has an actual 3.5" drive installed and an OS like Windows
>> 2000.  You can also install a 5 1/4" drive..
>> Bill
>>
>> On Tue, Dec 8, 2020 at 10:00 AM John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic <
>> vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hey folks,  two asks -- I'm looking for advice:
>>>
>>> Are there any USB or external floppy drive arrangements that are flexible
>>> like internal floppy drives for allowing formatting and/or reading of
>>> unusual sector sizes or formats?
>>>
>>> Ex:  800KB Atari ST floppies and PC DOS disks formatted in unusual sizes
>>>
>>> ..
>>>
>>> Second question is -what is the easiest way to clean the heads on a 3.5"
>>> floppy?   If I have a bunch of 'suspect' floppies that I want to clean
>> the
>>> head between every disk it seems a little painful to disassemble the
>> drive
>>> enough to see the heads and clean.  Are there any alternatives?
>>>
>>> (I'm used to 5.25" drives where there's often enough space in there to
>> wipe
>>> without disassembly).
>>> Maybe there's a good (modern) source of 3.5" cleaning floppies?
>>>
>>> (P.S.  I have a K6-3+ PC I can put a fresh OS on so I may be cleaning a
>>> legacy 3.5" drive instead of a USB floppy).
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>> John
>>>
>>
> 
> 


-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA